5/31/2007

Documentary Film Of The Day - F For Fake...

After checking IMDb.com, I realized that I'd only seen three things featuring Orson Welles: Citizen Kane, The Muppet Movie, and that Rikki-Tikki-Tavi animated feature he narrated that I remember from when I was little. I was excited to get to see him in a documentary and I wasn't disappointed. It's actually more of a hybrid documentary with some drama mixed in. I won't say too much about the content, other than that it is varied in pace and there are a lot of things to pay attention to. It's all about hoaxes and fakery. It's just the kind of strange film I like. Also, Mr. Welles is buttery-smooth in it.

The opening shot of Touch of Evil is amazing. It's the crane shot to end all crane shots. Of course, the studio looked at it, and said "it's too long," and put the credits over it. If your video place has the newest version, the credits have been removed and the shot restored.

Charlton Heston is a bit unintentionally hilarious as a Mexican lawyer, but the rest of the cast is great, including a few surprises I won't give away.